The community gathered Monday to remember the life of Karuk Tribal leader Amos Merrill Tripp who was the first director of United Indian Health Services and served as an inspiration to his peers.

"I hope to be half the person he was. He successfully walked in both worlds, the dominant society and the traditional one, and was a trailblazer in that way," Jim McQuillen, who was involved in dances with Tripp, said. "He went to law school and was a dance maker. He's one of the first examples showing you don't have to give up one of your lifestyles for another. He was open, generous and respectful. He always set aside politics and differences and I never heard him say anything negative about anyone."

Tripp, 70, died of a heart attack on Wednesday. Around 1,000 of his friends and family members attended the ceremony for him at Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka. He grew up in Klamath, was a graduate of Del Norte High School, Humboldt State University and UC Davis, where he got his law degree in 1975.

"He liked the rigor and research involved with being an attorney," lifelong friend Frank Tuttle said. "He liked completing puzzling discussions, but his work as an attorney was like part of his training. It was a tool to move things ahead. He had a certain insight that a lot of people respected in our community. A lot of people would always ask, 'What does Amos have to say about this?'"

Loren Bommelyn, also a lifelong friend of Tripp's, said he was always moving forward.

"Amos always had a thought," Bommelyn said. "He would talk others through their problems and was always sweet, never forceful. He enjoyed good conversation."

He was the dance leader for the Karuk Brushdance Camp, instrumental in the building of the Potawot Health Village, served for 10 years on the Humboldt Area Foundation Board of Directors -- where he helped create the Native Cultures Fund -- and taught federal Indian law and water law classes at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods.

"Amos was brilliant and could have easily been arrogant but he wasn't close," Tripp's friend Maggie Peters said. "He was always very poised."

Tripp is survived by his wife of 42 years, Maria "Perky" Tripp, several children, grandchildren, siblings and cousins.